Published 4:00 am, Monday, May 17, 1999

1999-05-17 04:00:00 PDT Houston -- Rookie Armando Rios is too young and too ill-versed in San Francisco Giants lore to understand that he was fighting more than Scott Elarton's 95-mph fastball when he beat the Astros with an 11th-inning home run last night.

Rios was battling 35 years of wretched gloom for the Giants at the Astrodome. After John John- stone and Robb Nen blew a 4-2 lead in the eighth inning, the Giants seemed duty-bound to lose their final regular-season game here.

Standing in the left-handed batter's box as a pinch-hitter for Nen in the 11th inning, Rios didn't know that. He just knew he had to hit the ball hard, and he did, lining a 1-1 pitch over the fence in the right- field corner for his third home run of the season.

Joe Nathan, who is even younger than Rios and knows even less about the cursed Astrodome, saved the 5-4 victory by striking out Giants-mauler Jeff Bagwell with the tying run at third base.

The Giants' incongruous victory improved their final record at the Astrodome to 117-169. Better luck in the next century at Enron Field.

"You don't remember the pain of the past," manager Dusty Baker said. "You only remember the joy of the present, and right now we feel pretty good."

Rios was born six years after the Astrodome opened in 1965, but he does have a special fondness for the place, thanks to Tatum O'Neal.

"This is the first park I remember seeing on TV," he said. "I was a kid when I saw 'The Bad News Bears' when they played inside here. It looked so big and so impressive. I thought, 'Wow!' Then I followed Jose Cruz and Nolan Ryan. I was a huge fan of Nolan Ryan. That always stuck in my mind. There is so much history in this park. I'm glad I got to play here before they tear it down.

By winning in front of 29,671 fans and a national cable audience, the Giants averted a Houston sweep and regained a one-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West. Arizona opens a head-to-head battle for first place in San Francisco tonight.

The Giants got to extra innings by taking a 4-2 lead, thanks largely to Rich Aurilia's team-leading sixth home run in the sixth inning, with Marvin Benard aboard, and 6 1/3 fine innings from starter Russ Ortiz. Houston tied it in the eighth on Craig Biggio's two-out, two-run double off Nen. The runs were charged to Johnstone.

At that point, even an optimist like Baker had to give his Giants little chance to win in light of how many times the Astros broke their hearts here in 35 years. Right? Wrong.

"I just couldn't see us walking off the field here with another loss," Baker said. "But I won't lie. I was trying to figure out how we were going to do it."

Nen contributed by preserving the 4-4 tie in the eighth and pitching scoreless ball in the ninth and 10th to earn the victory. After the Giants went ahead, Baker brought in Nathan to save it only because the rookie was already warming up when Rios homered.

Nathan walked the first hitter, Bill Spiers, and Biggio sacrificed him to second. Then came a pivotal defensive play. Derek Bell hit a chopper with an in-between hop that seemed destined to eat Aurilia alive. But the shortstop deftly gloved it and fired to first base for the second out. Spiers moved to third.

Up came Bagwell, who feasts off Giants pitching. Nathan put all of his trust in veteran catcher Scott Servais, who called a great at-bat. Fastball for a strike. Curveball in the dirt. Another surprise curveball for strike two. A fastball away for ball two. Finally, a harder fastball away, which Bagwell swung through for strike three. Game over.

"I definitely have a lot more respect for Nen, not that I didn't have a ton before," Nathan said.

Bagwell was impressed.

"I hadn't seen him before, so I can't evaluate him too much," he said, "but he's got a good arm, and that's the first plus. He has a real good fastball."

And the Giants have an Astrodome memory to cherish, a rare commodity over the years.

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